Chapter 27: Young Man, Don’t Lose Your Composure!

Words : 1251 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

"Because I’ve been practicing this kind of technique, I was able to do it quickly. It’s not that my talent is necessarily better than yours." Kyohiko explained and reassured. It was clear. The young man’s mentality seemed a bit shaken. This wasn’t his intention! He wanted Kakashi to understand that there’s always someone better, and that individual abilities have limits. He wanted Kakashi to rely on teamwork and his companions, not to lose his composure. The loss would be too great! What if he lost rewards because of this? The mask twitched, and after a few seconds, Kakashi asked, "Really?" "I’ve been practicing water nature transformation compression, hoping to integrate it into the Water Wave technique. Although this isn’t water release, the principles are similar." Kyohiko answered kindly. Jiraiya gave him a deep look. He knew Kyohiko’s previous level of skill. Kyohiko was strong, but only compared to his peers. In reality, his ability to compress chakra shouldn’t have reached this level yet. Otherwise— When Kyohiko used Tsunade’s technique earlier, with his chakra reserves, he shouldn’t have been injured so severely. He must have improved significantly in the past few days! Could it be... Jiraiya had a guess. He understood. Tsunade had given Kyohiko the Second Hokage’s books to improve his knowledge, understanding, and chakra control—fundamentals that would help him truly master the Superhuman Strength technique. But. From the time he got the books until now, it had only been a few days. Such rapid progress! Jiraiya collected his thoughts and glanced at Kakashi, feeling a bit worried for him. He hadn’t paid much attention before, but he knew Kakashi had grown up surrounded by praise, always known as a "genius." Now, with an even more talented person around, Kakashi might lose confidence. However. He didn’t say anything. If Kakashi really became discouraged, Jiraiya would only think less of him. For Kakashi, this situation might actually be a good thing. As a ninja, one must be resilient. A few hours later, as evening fell, Kyohiko got off the carriage. At the dock, the Matsuyama family was already unloading and loading goods. The cargo included timber, stone materials, and medicinal herbs from the Nara clan. There were over a dozen ships, an impressive number. No wonder they needed protection. With such a large shipment, if Gato were to ambush and steal it, the Matsuyama family would suffer a huge loss. As he pondered, Matsuyama Ichiro approached, escorted by his men. "Lord Jiraiya..." "Just call me Jiraiya." Jiraiya smiled in response. Matsuyama Ichiro didn’t dare to be so informal. Instead, he said, "We’ll set off tomorrow morning. It’ll take about an hour to reach the Land of Waves from the dock. Would you like to rest on the ship and have a meal?" "Sure, but there’s no rush. My students are practicing on the shore, so it’s not convenient to go on the ship yet." Jiraiya replied with a smile. Matsuyama Ichiro nodded, not insisting, but he didn’t leave immediately. He looked around, his face showing a hint of apology. "Lord Jiraiya, as you can see, this shipment is quite large. The debt issue is really because our Matsuyama family is short on cash. It wasn’t us who spread the word to the other families..." "Don’t worry. Tsunade owes money, and it’s only natural for you to collect. There’s nothing wrong with that." Jiraiya understood what he meant. "Besides, with Tsunade’s skills, it was only a matter of time before she became famous. It’s better to stop now than to have debt collectors showing up later." "Ahem—although our family runs gambling houses, gambling really isn’t good." Matsuyama Ichiro coughed lightly. Tsunade had a reputation for losing wherever she went, and rumors of the "Legendary Sucker" were already circulating in some places, though not widely yet. It was predictable. If Tsunade continued gambling, she would only lose more and owe more. Stopping now was indeed a good idea. Jiraiya didn’t dwell on the topic. "Mr. Matsuyama, let’s keep things separate. You don’t need to worry about that. Right now, I’m more concerned about the situation in the Land of Waves. Based on what you’ve said, if enemy ninjas get involved..." "Don’t worry, I know the rules. If enemy ninjas intervene, we’re willing to pay a commission that matches the situation." Matsuyama Ichiro immediately assured. Jiraiya nodded, his smile returning. Gambling debts were one thing. But the commission couldn’t be shortchanged! After settling the matter, Matsuyama Ichiro finally relaxed and returned to the ship with a smile. Jiraiya looked around. Finally, he spotted Kyohiko by the shore and walked over. "Kyohiko, what are you doing?" "Teacher, I’m practicing water release techniques, trying to see if I can reduce the hand seals for Water Wall when near water." Kyohiko explained. Some of the hand seals for Water Wall were for creating water chakra, but if there was water nearby, theoretically, some steps could be skipped. In the Land of Waves, such a technique would be quite useful. Jiraiya couldn’t help but feel impressed— Kyohiko was undoubtedly elite among his peers, yet he remained humble and diligent. Such a mindset was truly rare! He nodded slightly. "Using water release near water can indeed save some hand seals..." After sharing some technical tips, Jiraiya paused and then asked, "Did you learn the Superhuman Strength technique from Tsunade?" "I haven’t fully mastered it yet. I’ve been figuring it out on my own, and I can use it roughly. Lady Tsunade has seen it and said it’s fine, but it might still be too difficult for others, so she told me not to teach it." Kyohiko answered honestly. Under the moonlight, Jiraiya seemed to turn to stone. As Tsunade’s teammate, he knew all too well the nature of that technique. In Tsunade’s words, the Super Strength Technique was either "mastered" or "not mastered." There was no in-between. What did "roughly usable" even mean? This was even more shocking than Kyohiko bursting the rubber ball earlier. Jiraiya couldn’t help but be curious. "Can you demonstrate?" "Of course." Kyohiko gathered and raised his chakra, then stomped his foot. Boom! The ground caved in, leaving a crater the size of a washbasin. It was nowhere near Tsunade’s level, but that only made Jiraiya more astonished. Through sensing, he roughly understood the principle. By slowing down the release and reducing the scale of the chakra, Kyohiko had made the technique safer to use. In theory, it was feasible. But. To achieve this required extremely precise chakra control. This wasn’t something that could be made up for with training. However. Having the ability to think of and execute such an optimization was entirely different. Many people might spend their entire lives without being able to optimize a single technique. Take Tsunade, for example. She had mastered the Superhuman Strength technique to perfection, but she still couldn’t simplify or reduce its difficulty. What an incredible kid! After a long while, he finally nodded, saying, "Alright, listen to Tsunade. I just wanted to know the actual combat strength of my team members." "Are you worried about ninjas from Kirigakure?" Kyohiko asked. Jiraiya nodded. "The Land of Water has always wanted to dominate the seas. The Land of Waves is close to the Land of Fire but is a key maritime hub in this region. Kirigakure might secretly intervene." He spoke, his expression serious. "If we encounter a fight, don’t act recklessly, understand? The enemy won’t care if you’re a genin or a chunin." "I understand."

Chapter 27: Young Man, Don’t Lose Your Composure!

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